v rude store manager in LK Bennett

[Whoneedssleepanyway]

I took a cardigan back to LK Bennett today as after one wash it had shrunk badly and some small holes had appeared on the seam near the neck.

As soon as I showed it to the manager she became very hostile and said they are very careful about the stock they display and would not have sold something in that condition and then started questioning me very agressively as to how I had washed it, the instructions said hand wash 30 degrees, I had washed this cooler than 30 degrees. She basically then said very patronisingly please take me through the steps as to how you washed this and then found the holes as I want to understand how this happened, I said "I washed it, laid it to dry on the airer, went to get it to iron it once it was dry and saw it had shrunk and noticed little holes", she then said "so it sounds like it got caught on something", at this point I did say to her "you seem to be implying that I have done something wrong to the cardigan", she refused point blank to give me a refund or credit note, at which point I quoted legal rights to her as a consumer, she then said it was her right as a company to send the cardigan to a technical expert to have it tested to see if it had been washed properly, I said really and then she just said "fine have your money back". I am so cross that she basically made out I was lying to her and treated me like I was trying it on in front of other people in the store. I am not really sure what the purpose of this thread is but am just really annoyed and needed to let off steam.

Nancy I just wasn't quick-witted enough. I actually had hot tears . If I told you how many pairs of their shoes and bags I have it'd knock your socks off. DH has banned me from crossing the threshold.

However I suspect that's the excuse he's spent 7 years trying to find whilst they gobble up our hard-earned

I won't be shopping there again after hearing all this. Enjoy - that is shocking! I would have stuffed the bag down her gob, the cow!

interesting! i wanted a pair of shoes from the York monks cross factory store.... ...i will take my money elsewhere if their customer service is so shoddy!

In fairness the staff in my local Richmond and work Bloomsbury store are always very nice but that doesn't excuse this awful behaviour. Also Ive never had to return there only exchange.
Sad because I've been going there ever since the first shop opened in Wimbledon years ago.

from the website the stuff is well over priced!

wasn't lk bennett originally a shoe designer?

I think their clothes are poor quality and are often quite frumpy.

I have a few pairs of their shoes but I never buy unless on sale and their returns policy is dire. I haven't bought anything for years after sneery sales assistant and threads like this. Plus their stuff is not that unique.

Arf at middleton-of-the-road beige

If you use Twitter, you should link this thread on there. It usually gets results, and if not, lets a lot of people know what shitty service they offer

That is rotten.

FWIW, it is worth pushing in this situation. I got something from Reiss that when I got it home was coming unravelled. From what people said about Reiss's reputation I was really worried they would refuse a refund, and they looked very suspicious/unwilling to help in the store and said it had to be sent for product testing. TBH I was sure they would come back with some story about how I must have done something to cause the unraveling, but actually they rang up and gave me a (very stiff!) apology because it proved it had indeed been faulty.

I don't know, obviously, if LK Bennett would be anything like the same, but the similarities of attitude make me think it might be so?

Noted.

I love love their clothes and shoes, in fact most of my wardrobe is Lkb, mostly sales stuff though- But I agree about the cardigans- I have three Bella cardigans and two have shrunk badly in a cool hand wash. I spoke to the girls in our local store (who to be fair are very nice) and they said I should have dry cleaned them!

Interesting - if you're going to blow over £200 on one dress, the least you can ask for is not to be patronised and/or insulted by the shop staff!! this stuff is important and this sort of story really puts me off spending my hard earned £ in places like this.

I am quite shocked by this! It is disgraceful.
I agree about putting it on Twitter - they are @LKBennettUK - Mention them in a tweet rather than only addressing it to them (ie first), then they will see that they are getting bad press and you are circulating it. I've done this before and have had good results.

noted, thanks.

I walked into an lk Bennett last year, and one of the assistants practically ran over to me gushing "oh I see you're wearing our ballerinas, they look great on you", I took great delight in telling her they were not LK Bennett but in fact £19.99 from next! Their staff really are up their own backsides.

I tried on a dress there last winter in the changing room. Had really liked the colour but the shape just didnt work on me. As I went out the changing room I handed it back to the assistant saying thanks, but it just didnt suit me. She replied sneering "yes its meant for someone much smaller than you really".

I was a size 10 (and 5'3" and relatively small breasted so she didnt mean height or cup size), the dress fit me, I just didnt like it. They sell size 18 so presumably sell the dresses to women in that size too. Cheeky mare.

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of going there for a wardrobe update, but will do the consessions in jl instead.

hettie Not being able to return sale items is quite a common policy, but this does not affect your statutory rights. I.e. you still have a legal right to return the item if it's faulty, just not if you don't like it.

Apparently though you don't have the right to return faulty goods in LK Bennett!
They are atrocious and perhaps if people stopped shopping there they would take notice and do something.

Thank you so much ladies for the warning. I'll take my hard earned cash elsewhere, even though I love their shoes and enjoy wearing them. It is also annoying to have to spend another £20 for half rubber soles to be stuck to their flimsy (and slippery) leather soles after paying £185 for a pair of 'Middletons".

Bought a pair of LK Bennett shoes for a wedding - wore them once and the sole came off - I didn't notice till I put them on 6 months later otherwise i would have returned them - v poor quality IMO.

I may or may not have emailed a link to this thread to lk Bennett. Well someone only bloody called me today! Just to say that this is not how they train their staff to behave! Well no shit Sherlock!

OP -what are they going to do about your cardigan?